About ArtMetal - Arts & Crafts in Metal

In 1994, the ArtMetal Project was founded on the Internet to document and archive the heritage of various metalworking traditions so as to prevent the loss of current and ancient techniques that are beneficial to the understanding and appreciation of the metal arts.

Today, ArtMetal provides an environment for anyone interested in the metal arts to fulfill their desires. ArtMetal provides an Internet social networking community where artisans, academics, art lovers, and the general public can experience and share this outstanding medium within a community environment. At ArtMetal, collaboration of craftspeople from all metal disciplines creates an exciting environment for innovative self-expression and discovery.

QuiQue has been involved in the metal arts since 1978. After receiving a degree in photography, working at a television station, and several years producing fine art photography, he decided to get involved working with metals so that he could create 3-D art which is not available in photography. He received certifications for welding in the nuclear industry, and after three years of welding in the field, he turned to welding inspections for the nuclear site he was working at. During this time, he began learning blacksmithing and developing his craftsman skills in his "off" hours. Finally, in 1989 he received a major public art sculpture commission which allowed him to go into a full-time profession as an artist blacksmith. Realizing the need for open communication and documentation of the metal arts, and the opening of the World Wide Web, QuiQue founded ArtMetal in June 1994.

Rich Waugh is a somewhat full-time artist/blacksmith and retired police administrator on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He received his BFA in Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design from Colorado State University in 1971, and brings some of that detail-oriented discipline to his blacksmithing and other endeavors, as well as maintaining an active interest in teaching others. As he is just about the only working blacksmith in the Virgin Islands, the internet is his primary means of interaction with other smiths. When he isn’t working in his forging studio, doing demonstrations or attending various blacksmiths’ conferences, he can usually be found online at ArtMetal.com or, sometimes, fishing from a small boat off the shores of St. Croix.